June 2, 2003

It is six years since the system of electronic lot trading (SELT) was put into operation on the MICEX. The implementation of SELT gave banks a reliable and effective system of conducting forex transactions, working in the real-time mode.

The volume of operations in SELT is constantly growing, as seen from the statistics of trades. In 2003, the average daily volume of operations exceeded 475 million dollars, while in 2002, the same parameter reached 260 million dollars. At present, daily trades are held in SELT in 22 instruments with more than 830 banks participating.

Over six years (from June 1997 till June 2003), the total volume of operations in SELT reached 400,1 billion US dollars, the number of transactions exceeding 3,5 million.

Brief information: SELT was put into operation on the MICEX in June 1997. SELT served as a basis for Russia's national currency market and secured the integration of the mechanisms of trades and settlements.

The main aim of the implementation of electronic technologies of trading in currency was to adapt the procedure of exchange trades to the conditions of the interbank market.

The restoration of the Russian currency market after the 1998 crisis was based on SELT technologies. In 1999, the total volume of operations in SELT reached 68,7 billion dollars, in 2000 ≈ 124,6 billion dollars, in 2001 ≈ 72,4 billion dollars, in 2002 ≈ 64,9 billion dollars, and in the first 5 months of 2003 ≈ 47,6 billion US dollars.

In 1999, SELT technology helped to create the mechanism of the Unified Trading Session of interbank currency exchanges (UTS).
At present, the infrastructure of the organized (exchange) currency market, based on SELT, is an advanced electronic high technology complex, which includes currency exchanges, integrated into a unified trading area, and settlement centers, providing settlements for transactions in accordance with unified rules.

MICEX Public Relations Service
Telephone: (095) 705-9609